Set Fire to the Rain
by idealskeptic
Summary: Alice is completely convinced that she's damaged goods & not worthy of anything good in life. Jasper begs to differ. With the help of his brother and sister-in-law, Carlisle and Esme, he works to convince Alice that she's worthy of love - with him.


**Warnings/Disclaimer: **This story contains mentions of sex and abuse, along with other adult themes. I own nothing related to _Twilight _in any way. Stephenie Meyer created and owns everything.

**Note: **I do have a life! This wasn't written recently, I swear. It was written last, um, fall (maybe?) for one of the fandom charity compilation things (I can't even remember which one now, lol) but then, just when I was allowed to post it, a disc exploded in my computer and burned out the harddrive. I thought I'd lost it. Then, feeling about about not using FrozenSoldier's lovely banner for it, I had the epiphany that I'd sent it to a pre-reader and I never delete emails, even sent ones. So, here it is...

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**SET FIRE TO THE RAIN**

Jasper heard a loud thud that was followed quickly by a shrill scream.

Dropping the mop he'd been using behind the bar of The Droopy Duck Pub & Grille, he raced up the stairs to the apartments above. He knew a new waitress had moved in and he could only guess that the scream had come from her. The only access to the apartments was through the bar, and he hadn't seen anyone go through, but a girl screaming never meant good things.

"Ma'am? Miss?" he called awkwardly, pressing his ear to her door. "Are you alright? I heard you scream."

"A mouse," a voice from inside called out shakily. "I saw a mouse. Can you come in and catch it? The door isn't locked."

Jasper pushed open the door and stepped inside. A quick scan revealed that the new waitress hadn't moved in with many personal possessions. A slightly more careful scan revealed the new girl was sitting on the tiny kitchen counter.

"Where'd you see it last?" he asked her.

"By the bathroom door," she said, not moving a muscle. "Maybe it went in? Are you going to kill it? I'd rather you just let it go outside, if you don't mind."

"Can I use this box?" he asked, gesturing toward an empty shoebox on a table. When she agreed, he told her to stay put while he went to restaurant for cheese.

Five minutes later, the most makeshift of mousetraps was set up in her bathroom doorway.

Jasper leaned against the refrigerator and eyed the girl on the counter. "You're the new waitress?"

"Mm-hmm," she hummed, not taking her eyes off the box. "I'm Alice Brandon."

"Jasper Whitlock," he said. "It shouldn't take long to lure him out."

"And you won't kill him?" she asked again.

Jasper shook his head. "No. If I can get rid of him without killing him, I will. You're probably smart enough to figure this out, but don't tell anyone there was a mouse or the Health Department will shut us down in a heartbeat."

Alice laughed hollowly. "I don't really talk to anyone, so there's no one I would tell. Besides, if I did, I'd be out of the job I need, wouldn't I?"

"Fair enough," he allowed, nodding in concession.

The mouse took the bait after just ten minutes of awkward silence between the people in the room. Jasper slid a piece of cardboard underneath the box and left the building, releasing the tiny mouse into the alley behind the pub.

He didn't see Alice again until The Droopy Duck was full and loud.

…|…|…|…|…|…|...|...|...

"I think she told you to stop touching her," Jasper said menacingly, leaning over the shoulder of a drunk businessman dangerously close to sliding off his chair. "So stop touching her or get the hell out. Oh, and you're cut off for the night."

The man was most upset by the idea of being cut off and lurched up and out the door.

Looking around, Jasper realized that Alice had disappeared. Peter had the bar covered, so he went looking for her. He found her sitting on the floor in the walk-in refrigerator.

"Is this your first shift at a restaurant that serves alcohol?" he asked, crouching next to her.

"It's my first shift anywhere," she said, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. "Ever. Are you in charge? You seem like you are. I should just quit, shouldn't I?"

Jasper sighed, not really sure what to say to her. "If that's what you need to do, yeah, maybe you should. But yeah, I'm sort of in charge. I own the place, but Alex does all the hiring and firing. You want the rest of the night off?"

Alice fixed her brown eyes on him and sighed resolutely. "I can't quit. That apartment upstairs is the only place I've got to go, I have no money, and I didn't even graduate from high school."

"I'm gonna fuckin' fire that idiot," Jasper muttered. "How old are you, Alice?"

She cringed, guessing where he was going with this. "I told Alex I was twenty-one."

"How old are you?" he repeated.

"Eighteen," she admitted quietly. "My skirt and tube top may have helped convince him not to check my ID."

"Yep, gonna fire that fuckin' idiot. You can't work here unless you're twenty-one."

Alice burst into tears and buried her face in her hands. "I'll pack my stuff and be out by morning."

Jasper tried to catch her, but she ran up the stairs.

He let Peter tend the bar and covered Alice's tables. With no explanation to his best friend, he did something out of the ordinary and told him to shut things down himself. Taking the steps two at a time, he stopped in front of Alice's door and knocked softly. "Alice? You still in there?"

The door swung open and revealed a girl that had obviously spent hours crying as she randomly threw her few personal possessions into boxes. "You aren't going to kick me out in the middle of the night, are you?" she begged, wiping the back of her hand across her face.

"God, no, I'd never do that," Jasper answered quickly. "You can stay until you find somewhere else or we find another waitress."

Alice turned her back on him and busied herself refolding a t-shirt. "How many other jobs come with an apartment for so cheap? I don't have anywhere to go. I told you that. I'll be out by morning."

Moving around her, he grabbed the shirt that she'd folded and unfolded three times while she talked. "I don't want you to go, not if you might end up sleeping on the street."

"I have a car that I own and don't owe anything on," she said, avoiding his eyes. "I'll stay in it until I can sell it for a few months rent somewhere."

For reasons he didn't quite understand, Jasper was desperate to keep this girl he'd known less than twenty-four hours as safe as possible. "I might be able to help you get a job," he offered, inspiration striking suddenly. "Maybe even tomorrow or the next day."

With narrowed eyes, Alice finally looked at him. "Where?"

"My sister-in-law runs an antique shop, she wants to hire someone because she's pregnant and won't be able to work as much."

Alice sat down heavily on the cracked plastic chair that was pulled back from the table. "Why? Why would you try to get your sister-in-law to hire me when you've only known me a few hours?"

In the interest of being completely honest with himself and with her, Jasper shrugged. "I don't really know. I guess I just like you already."

She looked skeptical. "I'm damaged, Jasper. I'll give you fair warning because you seem like a nice guy. I've burned every fucking bridge that I've crossed and I don't know if I've learned my lesson yet."

"Undamaged people are boring," he declared firmly. "As long as you don't plan to rob my sister, kill her, or turn her antique shop into an illegal drug pushing business, we're good. And she's even more kindhearted than I am."

Alice had stood back up and was chewing her bottom lip as she paced the short length of the kitchen. "I'm just desperate enough to let you do that for me. But don't say I didn't warn you."

Jasper nodded in agreement and reached for the doorknob. When he saw the look of fear flash in her brown eyes, he turned back and sat down on the ancient, stained sofa. "I'm damaged too," he offered, hoping to put her at ease. "At least that's what my father says."

It seemed wrong, but she was interested in something, truly interested, for the first time in days.

"My father runs one of the largest oil companies in North America," Jasper continued, sensing her interest and distraction. "He sent me to the ritziest prep school in Connecticut that seven generations of Whitlocks have attended. It was an all boys' boarding school, so things got boring fast. I met my girlfriend one night, she was allowed to have a car, and got back after curfew. It was only the fifth time, but the rat bastard headmaster still expelled me."

"You're father wasn't happy, was he?" Alice asked curiously.

"I'll go with no," Jasper said, laughing shortly, "and skip to the part where he sent me to military school. Things were a bit more strict there, to put it mildly, and I had to stay in line or risk ending up in Afghanistan. My father figured I'd keep in line when I graduated and had it all set up for me to go to Harvard and join him in the family business. I didn't."

"You bought a pub called The Droopy Duck instead?"

Shrugging, he leaned back on the sofa. "Invested in it at first. I wasn't old enough to own it. My father cut me off, of course, but my half-brother gave me some money to get started with. It's his wife that owns the antique shop."

"Is your brother rich too?" Alice dropped her eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm too nosy, aren't I?"

"Nah, if you Googled my name or my brother's name, you'd find out all about us. But yeah, my brother is rich too. We have different fathers. Our mother's into oil, I think, because Carlisle's father runs the biggest oil company in Europe - he's British."

Since he was still answering questions, she kept asking them. "Carlisle doesn't mind that you invested his money in a pub?"

"Nope. The only reason he hasn't been cut off from his father, for marrying a divorced American, is because his grandfather adores him. And me too." Jasper paused while Alice sat back down on the plastic chair. "Either way, Carlisle's the one who told me that the guy who ran the place before was looking for an investor."

She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees, staring out the window at the dark sky. "I wish I had a brother like that," she said sadly.

Jasper leaned forward, but held back from touching her. "I told my story, Alice, and I didn't do it to make you wish you had a family like me," he told her softly. "I did it because I thought you needed to know that you aren't alone in the world. I won't ask for your story, but if you ever want to tell me, to talk about it, I'm here."

Alice nodded and peered at him. "I don't have to be out in the morning?"

"Don't you dare be gone in the morning," he warned her. "I'll call you in time for you to get ready to meet my sister-in-law."

"I still say I don't deserve it, but thank you, Jasper," she whispered.

He left silently, locking the apartment door behind him, and headed home to the guest house he lived in at his brother's. Stopping in the main kitchen, he left a note for his sister-in-law, and then set his alarm for a mere four hours later.

Jasper picked Alice up the next morning in his Toyota Prius.

"A hybrid?" she commented when she slid into the passenger seat. "You really do resent your father."

"Absolutely," he agreed, laughing shortly. "I show it any way that I can, too."

"Did you talk to your sister? Did you tell her I'm damaged?"

Jasper shook his head and pulled into traffic. "No, I didn't tell her you're damaged. That's your story to tell, if you so choose. Like I said. Anyway, that's all I know about you, and if I told her that she'd tell me to be quiet and just bring you in to talk to her. That's what I'm doing."

Alice was staring out the windshield, focusing on the buildings as they blurred past the window. Taking a deep breath, she began to tell her story. "I went to an elite boarding school too. I got expelled too."

"What for?" Jasper pressed gently but curiously.

"Sleeping with my history teacher," she answered bluntly. "My father is a partner at Knowles, Boyd, Effingham & Brandon in New York City. Couldn't have a wayward daughter, so they had me emancipated and cut me off."

"Ah, Ali, we've got something more than getting kicked out of boarding school in common," he said, shaking his head in dismay. "Knowles, Boyd, Effingham & Brandon is the law firm that handles all my father's business. I'm pretty sure Henry Brandon signed off on me being disinherited."

Alice snorted. "Sorry about that."

"No worries," Jasper said easily. "I'm better for it. Maybe I should thank your father?"

"No, please don't," she groaned. It took a few seconds longer but, after a deep breath, she was ready to tell the rest of her story. "After I was emancipated, they took a little pity on me and gave me some money. So I came here to try and start over on my own. But the economy's crap and I couldn't get a job without a high school diploma. That's why I bought the tank top and skirt that made Alex hire me. If your sister doesn't give me a job at her antique shop, I'll be using the tank top and skirt on the street."

"Oh, she'll hire you," he murmured confidently. "Don't doubt that. She may try to convince you to go back and finish school then go to college too. Just to warn you."

Alice simply shrugged. "I could probably use some convincing on that front, to be honest. Are we almost there? I'm nervous now."

Jasper had just parked in front of a small, Victorian style house. "We're here now. And don't be nervous, you'll do just fine.

And she did.

Two hours later, she had a job in Esme Cullen's antique shop, a promise from Jasper that she could keep the apartment over The Droopy Duck until she could afford a better place, and an invitation to lunch at an Italian restaurant with her new boss, Jasper, and his brother.

"Did Jasper make you hire me?" Alice asked as she tore her breadstick into tiny pieces.

Esme shook her head quickly. "Absolutely not. He simply left a note on the refrigerator that he'd met someone he thought would be a good fit to work for me. Jasper would never try to make me do something."

"Never," Jasper agreed. "But aren't you glad I thought of it?"

"Yes, thank you," Alice agreed quietly. "Mrs. Cullen? Thank you for giving me the job. I'll do whatever it is you need whenever you need it to be done. Just say the word."

"I think I'll focus on training you right away as much as possible so that you can be as comfortable in the shop as possible," Esme explained. "I'm almost six months along now and my doctor wants me to progressively stay off my feet more and more. Really, I'll do anything to avoid being put on bed rest. Then, after the baby's born, I'll want more time at home so, if you're still happy with the job, you can take on more responsibility then."

Alice was a little taken aback by the pace things were moving at. But she'd learned better than to ask a lot of questions that might result in losing the thing she wanted most. In this case, it was a job. "That's fine," she said, trying not to sound as nervous as she was. "My grandmother collected a lot of antiques and I loved spending time with her, so I'm not taking the job completely uninformed."

"Oh, that's great, Alice," Esme said enthusiastically. "You don't, by any chance, know anything about setting up websites, do you? I think I'm the only one in the country who runs a shop and doesn't have a website."

"Yeah, I can do that." She was more at ease with that request. Before being expelled, one of her classes had been on setting up websites for small businesses. Alice found it very strange to actually feel somewhat qualified for her job. "Absolutely. And I can start tomorrow."

Jasper smiled widely as Esme and Alice immediately began to plan just how they would attack the jumble that was Esme's shop. Carlisle seemed happy enough with Alice as his wife's new partner and smiled just as broadly before he and Jasper began to go over the latest figures from The Droopy Duck's finances.

Two months later, Jasper worked up the nerve to ask Alice out on a date.

He'd waited longer than he wanted to so that she could have time to adjust and recover. He knew she needed time to even begin to realize that she wasn't as damaged as she thought. Jasper had known the day he got the mouse, the first of a outrageous number of mice, out of her apartment that he would ask her on a date one day.

Two months after the day that she accepted the job at Esme's store, he asked if she wanted to go back to the Italian restaurant and then go see the latest mindless, mostly plot free action movie. He kept it deliberately simple to raise the chances that she'd accept his invitation.

Having worked forty or more hour weeks for the last two months, Alice was eager for the chance to relax and enjoy herself. She knew it was a date, and that scared her a little, but she felt ready. Finally.

"Tell me the truth, Ali," Jasper said as they sat in the dark theater, waiting for the movie to begin, "are you really happy that I helped you get the job at the shop?"

"How could I not be?" she answered honestly. "Esme is so sweet and it's such a calm, easy, and interesting job. No one's groped me since my one day as a waitress at The Droopy Duck, after all."

"Look at you, laughing and joking. It's nice to see, Ali, it really is."

She pulled up her legs, sitting on her ballet flat clad feet, and shrugged. "I feel better since then. I guess I have you to thank, don't I?"

Nudging her arm off the armrest with his elbow, Jasper shook his head. "Hearing you laugh and seeing you smile is thanks enough, Ali. Don't worry about anything else."

More conversation was delayed until the credits rolled. Alice was the first to speak, telling Jasper that she'd almost come to the conclusion that he wasn't ever going to ask her out.

"I didn't want to rush things," he said in defense of himself. "I wanted it to be real, not you thinking I was asking for something in return for your apartment and your job. You declared yourself damaged. I had to wait until you realized that, at the very least, damage can be repaired."

Dropping her popcorn bag into the trashcan, she leaned to the side and quickly kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Jasper," she whispered, blushing at the boldness that would have bored her just a few years earlier. "Can we go out again one day?"

Jasper laughed and linked his fingers through hers. "I thought you'd never ask."

"Give me that," Alice said, jogging to Esme's side and taking the box of Wedgwood china out of her arms. "You shouldn't be carry that, it's too heavy."

"Oh, not you too," Esme sighed, giving up the box and rubbing her bulging middle instead. "Carlisle will hardly let me get dressed by myself anymore."

"Does he even know where you are? I thought it was suspicious that you decided to come to the auction when you hadn't been sure yesterday."

Looking a little like a child caught with her hand in the cookie jar, Esme fixed her gaze somewhere over Alice's shoulder. "He got called in for an emergency surgery. I promised to stay on the couch and watch movies all day," she admitted. "I got bored. Besides, Jasper's here too, I'm not worried."

"You should be," Jasper said, walking casually to his sister-in-law's side. "Carlisle just called looking for you. Apparently, he thought you might make a daring escape and asked the neighbor to check in on you rather than just calling your cell phone. I told him you were with me, but his surgery's over so he's coming here to get you."

Esme looked at Alice, a petulant pout on her face. "I can stay, can't I?"

Alice held up her hands, laughing as she backed away. "This is between you and Carlisle, Esme. We all just want you and the baby to be as healthy and happy as possible."

"I'd be happier if I wasn't on husband imposed bed rest," she grumbled. "It's so boring, especially when he gets called in for an emergency."

Moving closer again, Alice hugged her. "Tell you what, I know he's on leave until after the baby's born, but if he gets called in, call me. Peter and Alex can watch The Droopy Duck and Jasper can come here to watch the shop. You and I can watch romantic comedies, paint each other's nails, and eat lots of frozen yogurt."

Esme's mood brightened at the idea. "Do we have to wait for Carlisle to get called in? He could watch the shop if you wanted to come over. I'd still pay you the same salary."

"Sweetie, you don't have to pay me to keep you company," Alice said. "I'm happy to do it any time you need me. We're friends. That's more than enough reason."

When Carlisle arrived, he took Esme aside to talk to her about her escape. Jasper took the time to wrap his arms around his girlfriend of exactly one month. "I'm not going to see much of you until after the baby's born, am I?" he whispered in her ear.

"It doesn't look like it, does it?" she said, wrapping her hands around his arms that rested around her waist. "Sorry about that."

"I can wait," Jasper sighed dramatically. "Since you're doing it for Carlisle and Esme, I suppose I can wait."

Alice pressed against him playfully. "You're terrible," she said, laughing. "Absolutely terrible."

"And still you love me," he countered.

A thrill ran through her at the words. "And still I love you."

When Esme went into labor three weeks later, Alice sat in the waiting room with Jasper. They'd both been at Carlisle's house, watching old movies and playing Scrabble with the expectant parents, when the first pains had come. It was lucky that Jasper and Alice where there because, for all the preparation that Carlisle and Esme had done, neither could keep even remotely calm. They were both terrified and Alice wouldn't have rather been anywhere other than at Esme's side.

"Is it prying to ask why Esme's so scared?" she asked, accepting a cup of too hot coffee from Jasper in front of the coffee machine in the maternity ward waiting room.

"You never asked her?"

"Nope. I did tell her my story, maybe more of it than you know, if that makes a difference." Alice blew on the coffee and sighed. "I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me."

Jasper thought for a moment about what, if anything, he should, and could, tell the girl he intended to propose to as soon as possible. Thinking back to a conversation he'd had with Carlisle just that morning, about how Esme wondered why Alice had never asked about her past, he decided to tell her everything. It seemed like he had permission.

"Carlisle is Esme's second husband, Alice," he began. "Her first husband was abusive. To the point that he beat her so badly that he caused three miscarriages. Just before the end of their marriage, she got pregnant again. I think she made it to seven months that time. But he got mad over something stupid and knocked her down a flight of stairs. She went into labor and the baby was born alive, but he only survived three days in NICU.

"She almost jumped off the roof of the parking garage next to the hospital. She would have, if Carlisle wasn't getting off work and wasn't parked next to where she was going to jump from. He talked her down and took her home. They've been together since, but she's terrified that what her first husband did caused long lasting damage that could hurt this baby. Carlisle says it's possible and neither of them expected her to be able to even get pregnant."

Alice had stared at the pattern the cream made in coffee the entire time Jasper was speaking. She'd refused to realize that, as damaged as she knew she was, there was a chance, a strong one, that there were many people a lot worse off than she was. More importantly, some of the people who'd suffered far worse things than she had had taken their lives into their own hands and made things good. Like Esme had with Carlisle.

"What happened to her first husband?" she asked quietly.

"He was driving drunk on a bridge and lost control of his car. He was killed instantly. Except for that part, I'd say it was a fitting end for a horrible man. He should have suffered, like he made Esme suffer for all those years."

Alice shook her head. "Esme wouldn't like it if she knew you were saying that."

Jasper laughed and put his empty cup on the low table in front of him. "No, she probably wouldn't. I hope she's alright. It's been hours."

"She's having the baby naturally," Alice pointed out. "That can take hours and usually does."

As if on cue, Carlisle appeared in the waiting room. It was easy to see the triumph, relief, and even disbelief in his eyes as he walked toward his brother and soon-to-be sister. "It's all done. It's a girl. She's so beautiful," he gushed breathlessly. "Come see."

They both followed him quickly down the hall to Esme's room.

Esme hardly noticed them, she was too focused on the tiny pink child with a crown of soft caramel colored hair in her arms. She only looked up when they approached the bed quietly with Carlisle. "Isn't she mesmerizing?" she whispered, turning her gaze back to her healthy daughter.

Alice could only sigh in agreement, happy that her friend had found the happiness she wanted and, more importantly, deserved.

Jasper left a little while later with Carlisle who had to sign some papers at the nurses' station and Alice took the chance to tell Esme what Jasper had told her, apologizing if he'd given too many details.

Esme only shrugged it off. "I'm not that person anymore, Alice. I'm Lily's mother and Carlisle's wife. I'm me. I was never supposed to be that person and I never will be again. It can be the same for you, you know."

"I think Jasper's going to ask me to marry him," she blurted out.

Esme bit her lip, she knew he was - she'd seen the ring. "What would you say if he did ask you?" she asked cryptically.

"I'd say yes," Alice admitted, surprising herself just a little. "I'd still wonder why he'd want me, though."

"Does it matter?" Esme pressed gently. "The point is that you want him and he wants you. We're all damaged, Alice. Damage can be fixed. I've learned that, maybe the hard way, but I've learned it."

"How do I let go?"

"Stop worrying about the past, it's not you. You may reconcile with your parents or you may not. You can't force it, though. That'll never work out well. I learned that too. In the end, I set fire to the rain, for the lack of a better phrase." Esme paused and pressed a soft kiss to her daughter's forehead. "This is what I want, Alice. Nothing else matters. This is it for me.

"You have to decide what you want and make that your focus, your goal. Don't try to be who you aren't and who you can't be. Be you and get what you want, even if it hurts sometimes."

"Jasper wouldn't hurt me," Alice said firmly, declaring what she wanted without even realizing it.

He'd come in just in time to hear that and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Never, Alice, I'd never hurt you."

**THE END**

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_Thanks to _FrozenSoldier _from letting me adopt the banner that inspired my story!_


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